Chat videos

1. A method, comprising:

executing, on a processor of a computing device, instructions that cause the computing device to perform operations, the operations comprising:

displaying a chat video creation interface to a user;

receiving, via the chat video creation interface and from the user, a participant definition defining one or more participants for a conversation;

receiving, via the chat video creation interface and from the user, a sequence of content items to display through a chat interface for the conversation;

determining a first timing definition associated with a first content item of the sequence of content items based upon the first content item comprising text, wherein the first timing definition is based upon a length of the text of the first content item;

determining a second timing definition associated with a second content item of the sequence of content items based upon the second content item comprising an emoticon, wherein the second timing definition is different than the first timing definition;

determining a third timing definition associated with a third content item of the sequence of content items, wherein the third content item is a real-time content item programmatically retrieved from a social network responsive to a user instruction received through the chat video creation interface;

automatically constructing a sequence of message elements for the conversation based upon the participant definition, the sequence of content items, the first timing definition, the second timing definition and the third timing definition, wherein a first message element of the sequence of message elements comprises the first content item and is assigned to a first participant, a second message element of the sequence of message elements comprises the second content item and is assigned to a second participant, and a third message element of the sequence of message elements comprises the third content item and is assigned to at least one of the first participant or the second participant;

surfacing the sequence of message elements through the chat interface to visually present the conversation to construct a chat video; and

storing the chat video as a chat video file.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

assigning the first participant to a first side of the chat interface so that message elements assigned to the first participant are displayed as visually originating from the first side; and

assigning the second participant to a second side of the chat interface so that message elements assigned to the second participant are displayed as visually originating from the second side.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the participant definition specifies an avatar to use for visually representing at least one of the first participant or the second participant through the chat interface.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sequence of content items specifies a text color and a message element color for displaying at least one content item through at least one message element.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

receiving music content to play during playback of the chat video; and

constructing the chat video to include the music content for playback.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the constructing the chat video comprises:

determining a display height for at least one message element based upon a characteristic of at least one content item to display through the at least one message element.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

receiving a background image for display as a background for the chat interface; and

constructing the chat video to use the background image as the background during playback.

8. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

memory comprising processor-executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause performance of operations, the operations comprising:

displaying a chat video creation interface to a user;

receiving, via the chat video creation interface and from the user, a participant definition defining one or more participants for a conversation;

receiving, via the chat video creation interface and from the user, a sequence of content items to display through a chat interface for the conversation;

assigning a first set of the sequence of content items to a first participant and a second set of the sequence of content items to a second participant;

determining a first timing definition associated with a first content item of the sequence of content items based upon the first content item comprising text, wherein the first timing definition is based upon a length of the text of the first content item;

determining a second timing definition associated with a second content item of the sequence of content items based upon the second content item comprising an image, wherein the second timing definition is different than the first timing definition;

determining a third timing definition associated with a third content item of the sequence of content items, wherein the third content item is a real-time content item programmatically retrieved from a social network responsive to a user instruction received through the chat video creation interface;

automatically constructing a sequence of message elements for the conversation based upon the participant definition, the sequence of content items, the first timing definition, the second timing definition and the third timing definition, wherein a first message element of the sequence of message elements comprises the first content item and is assigned to the first participant, a second message element of the sequence of message elements comprises the second content item and is assigned to the second participant, and a third message element of the sequence of message elements comprises the third content item and is assigned to at least one of the first participant or the second participant;

surfacing the sequence of message elements through the chat interface to visually present the conversation to construct a chat video; and

storing the chat video as a chat video file.

9. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the operations comprise:

calculating a visual spacing to apply between display of the first message element and the second message element; and

applying the visual spacing to the chat interface.

10. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the visual spacing is calculated so that the first message element and the second message element do not visually overlap within the chat interface.

11. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein:

the third message element, comprising the third content item, is assigned to the first participant and is associated with a first amount of time; and

the second message element, comprising the second content item comprising the image, is assigned to the second participant and is associated with the first amount of time.

12. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the surfacing comprises:

surfacing the sequence of message elements in a vertical scroll order from a top side of the chat interface to a bottom side of the chat interface.

13. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the surfacing comprises:

surfacing the sequence of message elements in a vertical scroll order from a bottom side of the chat interface to a top side of the chat interface.

14. A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions that when executed cause performance of operations, the operations comprising:

displaying a chat video creation interface to a user;

receiving, via the chat video creation interface and from the user, a participant definition defining one or more participants for a conversation;

receiving, via the chat video creation interface and from the user, a sequence of content items to display through a chat interface for the conversation;

determining a first timing definition associated with a first content item of the sequence of content items based upon the first content item comprising text, wherein the first timing definition is based upon a length of the text of the first content item;

determining a second timing definition associated with a second content item of the sequence of content items based upon the second content item comprising a type of content different than text, wherein the second timing definition is different than the first timing definition;

determining a third timing definition associated with a third content item of the sequence of content items, wherein the third content item is a real-time content item programmatically retrieved from a social network responsive to a user instruction received through the chat video creation interface;

constructing a sequence of message elements for the conversation based upon the participant definition, the sequence of content items, the first timing definition, the second timing definition and the third timing definition, wherein a first message element of the sequence of message elements comprises the first content item and is assigned to a first participant, a second message element of the sequence of message elements comprises the second content item and is assigned to a second participant, and a third message element of the sequence of message elements comprises the third content item and is assigned to at least one of the first participant or the second participant;

surfacing the sequence of message elements through the chat interface to visually present the conversation to construct a chat video;

storing the chat video as a chat video file; and

responsive to receiving a request to play the chat video file, playing the chat video file to render the chat interface for playback of the conversation.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations comprise:

receiving a closing content item to display after playback of the conversation.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the constructing the chat video is performed automatically.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations comprise:

displaying a rendering error, associated with constructing the chat video, through the chat video creation interface.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations comprise:

displaying input data, used to construct the chat video, through the chat video creation interface for verification.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations comprise:

compressing the chat video.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations comprise:

constructing the chat video to include the closing content item after display of the sequence of message elements.